Detailed specifications and settings for UTokyo Slack

This page describes the details of the specifications specific to UTokyo Slack (“Enterprise Grid” plan of Slack) and the features that are restricted by the per-organization settings. If you have any comments or suggestions on settings, please feel free to contact us through the Support Desk via email form.

Custom emoji

Due to the specifications of the Enterprise Grid plan, “custom emoji” can only be added to UTokyo Slack as a whole, and not to specific workspaces.

In UTokyo Slack, each workspace is configured to enable the person responsible for that workspace (the person with owner/administrator role) to add custom emoji. When adding custom emoji, please use them appropriately, keeping in mind that they will be seen by a wide variety of members of the University of Tokyo. *For more details about owner and administrator roles for workspaces, please refer to the relevant section of “Creation and operation of workspaces in UTokyo Slack” page.

Please note that custom emoji that you have added can be deleted from the screen that opens with “Customize [workspace name]” under “Settings and administration” in the upper left menu of the workspace screen.

Profiles

When using UTokyo Slack, we recommend that you set up your profile appropriately. In particular, the “Display Name” field in your profile is the information that is usually displayed as your name in messages, etc. However, it is initially set as the 10-digit Common ID due to system specifications. Therefore, it is recommended that you set a name that others can recognize.

The procedure for changing your profile is as follows (if you are using a PC).

1. Press the “person” symbol in the upper right corner of the workspace screen.
2. Select “Profile” from the menu that appears.
3. Click on the “Edit” button to the right of your name.
4. The edit screen will open, allowing you to make changes to each item in your profile. When finished, press the “Save Changes” button in the lower right corner.

Please note that due to the specifications of the Enterprise Grid plan, UTokyo Slack profiles are common to the entire UTokyo Slack and cannot be set up differently for each workspace.

In addition, those who are in charge of workspace management and operation should also check the following information about profiles.

• Due to the above specification that personal profiles are common to the entire UTokyo Slack and visible to members of other workspaces, please avoid forcing your workspace members to describe specific details in their profiles, such as their position in your workspace.

• The “custom profile fields” feature, which is related to profiles, is also unavailable, as it can only be set for UTokyo Slack as a whole and cannot be set for individual workspaces.

For students who become faculty members & faculty/staff members who become students

Previously, UTokyo Accounts were managed and assigned separately for students and faculty/staff members. If you become a faculty member from a student or a faculty member from a student, your UTokyo Account was changed to a different one, which requires “re-connection” of a previous account.

After 27 February 2024, UTokyo Account will no longer be changed when your affiliation status changes within the university, so you can continue to use the same account in UTokyo Slack.

*For more details on the handling of UTokyo Account can be found “Notice on Account Revocation due to Graduation, Resignation or Change of Affiliation”.

”Guest” feature

(*This section is for those in charge of workspace management and operation.)

Although Slack provides a paid “Guest” feature, it is not available on UTokyo Slack for the following reasons.

• For members outside the university (those who do not have a UTokyo Account), the guest feature is not available because the “Multi-Channel Guest”, a type of guest, is charged a fee. Although “Single-Channel Guest”, a different type of guest, is not a fee-charging feature, the entire guest function including Single-Channel Guest is not available because it is not possible to enable only the Single-Channel Guests.

  • If you wish to use Slack with someone from outside the university, you can use the “Connect” feature to collaborate with an external workspace. (However, this is not always recommended, as it is not as easy to use as the regular workspace.) See “Using UTokyo Slack with external users with the “Connect” feature” (in Japanese) for details.

• For members inside the university (those who have a UTokyo Account), we ask them to use it as a regular member as they cannot join more than one workspace as a guest.

  • If you wish to allow someone from inside the university to join only a specific channel, it is possible to use the “Connect” feature to share the channel to an external workspace (other than UTokyo Slack), and have them join from the external workspace side.

”Multi-workspace channel”

What is a “multi-workspace channel”?

”Multi-workspace channel” is a feature that allows multiple workspaces to work together within UTokyo Slack, creating a shared channel among workspaces. Normally, a Slack channel belongs to a single workspace, but by sharing a channel using the “multi-workspace channel” feature, it becomes as if a single channel exists as a common space in multiple workspaces. This allows members in different workspaces to communicate across workspaces. While similar to the “Connect” feature (in Japanese), when sharing a channel among workspaces in UTokyo Slack, please make sure to use the “multi-workspace channels” feature instead of “Connect” feature.

Certain specifications of the “multi-workspace channel” feature affect the use of the entire UTokyo Slack. Once a channel is set as a multi-workspace channel, a channel with the same name will no longer be available in all UTokyo Slack workspaces. For this reason, we have established certain operation rules for UTokyo Slack, and we ask you to use them in a constrained manner.

Please note that due to the above specification, even workspaces that do not use the “multi-workspace channel” feature may not be able to use a specific channel name (causing an error when creating or renaming a channel). We would like to operate in a way that strikes a balance between the overall UTokyo Slack workspace usage and the needs of those who require the “multi-workspace channel” feature. We appreciate your understanding. If there is a problem caused by the unavailability of a channel name, please contact us via the contact form from the workspace owner/administrator to adjust it accordingly.

Basic operational rules (e.g., procedures for getting started)

• When sharing a channel using the multi-workspace channel feature, a representative workspace must be assigned to manage the channel. When making changes, we will accept requests from this representative workspace.

• Rules shall be established for the names of channels that are to be shared using the multi-workspace channel feature.

  • The representative workspace URL of the channel (the example part of example.slack.com) must be included at the beginning or end of the channel name, separated by a hyphen or underscore.
  • For example, if the representative workspace is example.slack.com, the following channel names are available.
    • #example-channel-name
    • #channel-name-example
    • #another-channel-name_example

• Multi-workspace channel feature is available upon completion of certain procedures.

  • The application is accepted via the contact form. For each workspace you wish to share a channel with, the person responsible (who has the owner or administrator role) must submit the form. In total, the form will be submitted for as many workspaces as you wish to share with.
  • Please include the following information in your form.
    • The URLs of all workspaces you wish to share with
    • The URL of the representative workspace
    • The URL of the workspace where the channel you wish to turn into a multi-workspace channel currently resides
    • The channel name and channel ID of the channel you wish to turn into a multi-workspace channel (the channel ID is shown at the bottom of the dialog that opens when you right-click on the channel name in the sidebar and press “View channel details”)

• Once a channel has been shared using the multi-workspace channel feature, you must never archive or rename that channel. Also, you must never change the URL of the representative workspace. If these operations are necessary, please refer to the explanations below to deal with them.

Details of operational rules (e.g., procedures for changes)

• If you need to make changes to a channel that is shared by the multi-workspace channel feature, please proceed using the contact form (even if you can do it on the Slack screen, please make sure to use the form and not to do it through the Slack screen).
  • The specific changes are the following.
    • Change of channel name: The person responsible for the representative workspace should contact us.
    • Change of representative workspace: The persons responsible for both the old and the new representative workspace should contact us. Please also change the channel name at the same time to satisfy the channel name rules.
    • Addition of a workspace to share the channel with: The persons responsible for both the representative workspace and the workspace you wish to add should contact us respectively.
    • Withdrawal of a workspace sharing the channel: The person responsible for either the representative workspace or the workspace you wish to withdraw should contact us. If you wish to withdraw the representative workspace, you must assign a new representative workspace and do a change of representative workspace as well.
  • The “person responsible for the workspace” who should contact us is the person who has the owner or administrator role in the workspace.
  • When contacting us, please inform us of the contents of the change, as well as the channel name and channel ID of the channel that requires the change.
  • Changes that would cause deviation from the rules for channel names, etc., are not allowed.
• If you wish to change the workspace URL of the representative workspace of a channel shared by the multi-workspace channel feature, please proceed using the contact form instead of operating through the Slack screen.
  • When contacting us, please inform us of the old and new URLs. Also, please note that the person responsible for the workspace (who has the owner or administrator role) should contact us.
  • This is based on the premise that renaming of a shared channel should be done at the same time to satisfy the channel name rule.
• When workspaces are withdrawn from a channel shared by the multi-workspace channel feature, and even if there is only one sharing (participating) workspace left, the rules of channel name, etc., will continue to apply. This is due to the specification of Slack, which continues to restrict the use of the same channel name as that channel in UTokyo Slack. Please note that there is no way to change the channel back to a non-multi-workspace channel (in other words, the channel cannot be returned to a state where the rule does not apply).
• Even if you “archive” a channel that is shared by the multi-workspace channel feature, the restriction that the same channel name as that channel cannot be used in UTokyo Slack will continue. For management reasons based on this, please do not “archive” a channel.
  • There is no problem in performing the “Delete” operation, so please consider using this instead. However, please note that “delete” differs from “archive” in that you will not be able to see the messages of the channel after the operation.
  • If you absolutely need to perform an “archive” operation instead of the “delete” operation, the person responsible for the representative workspace should contact us using the contact form.
• The multi-workspace channel feature and the “Connect” feature can be used together. If you wish to share a channel among multiple workspaces within UTokyo Slack and external workspaces (outside of UTokyo Slack), you will need to use the two features together. Please follow the procedures and operations for each feature.